St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-29

1t is reported that filings on the in
demnity lands of the Northern Pacific
tracts have steadily gone on this week
at the Fargo office, and number many
hundred. The SQuatters are said to be
mainly, if not entirely, confined to the
improved lands, generally wheat farms,
which they have been led to believe the
government will take away from the
men who bought them and hand over to
them with all the expensive improve
ments. The attorneys who have been
protiting so greatly by the situation
have not sought to dispel these glow
ing anticipations. The squatters do
not seem to realize that they
are simply investing in law suits
with one of the greatest corporations on
the continent, and that the tendency of
all judicial rulings and outgivings is in
the direction of protection of the par
ties who bought the lands in good faith
and have converted them into farms.
Public sentiment in Dakota seems to be
positive in the same direction. If the
sQuatterS had located only on the unim-
proved lands held by nonresident
spectators, or those still held by the
railroad and not sold, they would have
had the active sympathy of the people
of that region, but their greed has lost
them encouragement from about all eX-
cept those who expect to profit by their
course. The land department is evil
IDENTITY making mistake in receiving
such filings until the title to
the lands has been adjusted 1t is not
easy to see way out of the difficulty
that does not involve more OF less of in
justice to either the possessors or the
new claimants of the lands. BY throw
ing them open as government lands, ac-
cepting the filings and fees of the squat
tiers, the latter evidently have ground
to suppose that the procedures are all
in good faith, and that they are acquir-
ing rights in the lands. Returning the
fee will be but small recompense for the
expenditure of time and money. The
average outlay to them will hardly be
less than 500. To return them 81 (as
they nearly all would file pre-emptionS)
would be but an aggravation. On
the other hand, to diSposseSs
those who have bought the lands and
made them into luXuriatit farms would
violate every sense of justice. In many
instances the lands have been sold sew
eral times, and the present occupants
did not buy of the railroad. If they
have recourse only to the parties of
whom they bought they would not, in
many eases, perhaps, be able to find
those who sold to them. or recover from
them. If the railroad should be liable
for what it received for the property,
and make restitution, still it would be
but a meager part of the present value.
That the Northern Pacific had
no right to take the lands may
be easily conceded. 1t filed no selec-
tions as a compensation for lost lands,
but put its capacious NAV over the en-
tire tract. That was in the era of loose
Republican management, when the land
Office was pliable agency for fattening
vast corporations and mOnopolies, and
it was presumption sanctioned by
usage with the Northern Pacific, that it
could hold about all that it chose to take
1t took 100000 acres and proceeded to
sell them. The land officers winked and
smiled, but lifted no objecting hand. 1t
may be admitted that the railroad ac-
quired no rights by the reticence and
winking of the government offici ais;
but the Dakota courts, at least, do
not sanction this admission in
the case of the purchasers. 1t
is complicated and unfortunate sit
uatiOn, and will require prudent action
not to result in gross injustice to in
dividuals. The government cannot afford
to wrong even the humblest of its citi-
ZenS. If there is no more feasible solu-
ton, the men who possess the lands
and have made their homes on them
should be allowed to retain them I'M
molested upon payment of the govern
ment price for them. 1t is claimed that
this right is given them under the
SPooNER bill of the last congress. If
SO, they should be freed from the an
noyance of intruders. The intent of
the land department to preserve the
public lands for the possession of actual
settlerS-for homes for the landless-is
commendable, and the true policy. If
it has restored "20,0oOOO0 acres to the
public domain it deserves the support
of the people, and some errors of detail
may be overlooked, but the chronic
evils of maladministratlOn cannot be
rectified in daV.